Brick-kiln fire-box



(NO Model.)

witnesses liban-tor,

.UNITEDv STATES PAT-ENT OFFICE.

JOIIN WILLIAM BEAD, OF sAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 365,632, dated June 28, 1887. pplication filed Decfmber 17, 1886. Serial No. 221,844. (No model.)

To aZZ whom/- it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, JOHN WILLIAM READ, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Diego, inthe countyof San Diego and State of California,haveinvented certainanew and useful Improvements in Combined Door and Fire- B0X for Kilns; and I do hereby Vdeclare the following to b eafull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in Ythe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

In the manufacture of bricks, as is well known, great difficulty is found in properly burning what is known as the head of the kilnthat is, the outside of the kiln--owing to the fact that the fires are necessarily placed near the center of the kiln, or, if started under the head, the heat is carried by the draft to or toward thecenter of the kiln, thus burning the middle portion of the kiln first. To obviate this it is the custom to start with small fires first and keep them thus two or three days, so as to burn the head, or at least dry it somewhat, before the `center of the kiln is burned. Of course there is necessarily involved in this method a loss of time, ifnot of fuel, and great danger of .spoiling the bricks forming the head by overburning. v

Now, my invention hasvfor its object to provide a very simple, durable, and effective device to Kovercome the above-enumerated objectionable features iu the kilns as commonly constructed and enable a kiln to be burned or settled at once without loss of time and with a saving in fuel; and it consists of the parts and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming av part of this specification, Figure l is a vertical section through my improved device; Fig.`

work forming the kiln, and the base d, which projects, as does the plate c, outwardly on cach side of the central plate, a, forms a iiauge on which rest the grates or grate-bars B on the inner side of said plate, vwhile'the lower ends of side pieces,C, reston the opposite iange of said base d. These frames will be built in on each side with the brick-work of the kiln Opposite each other, and the grate-bars will eX- tend from one side to the other.

In the plate a, on each side of the opening a', I form two elongated sllots,f, one near the top and the other near the bottom of the frame and directly in line with each other, one of which is clearly shown in Fig. 3.

C represents two side pieces of metal which have formed on or cast therewith. two hookshaped lugs, g. These lugs are formed ou the rear edges of the side pieces and are adapted to'enter the slotsfin the main frame, which are slightly larger and longer than the lugs, so that after they have been inserted the side pieces may be lowered and the lugs catch on the frame to hold said pieces upright on each side of the opening, from which they may easily be removed by simply raising them slightly and then withdrawing.

l? is a projection cast with one of the side pieces. Near the bottom of the side pieces on their rear cdgcs,and very nearly, if not quite, on a line with the bottomof the opening a', I form the rounded open slots It, and on the sloping edges of the side pieces the notches m are formed, for a purpose which will be described.

D is the combined Ventilating or draft-regulating door and grate. This consists of a plate of metal having the elongated openings n (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 2) formed in the body thereof, and the hook-shaped projections p at its upper corners, and journals or pintles r at its lower corners. Running lengthwise with the door are two bars, s, one on each side, and connecting these two bars at their upper and lower ends are two cross-pieces, t,(shown in Fig. 1,) to form a frame for the reception of the Ventilating or draft-regulating slide E. This slide has. elongated openings u formed therein, correspondingin size and number with the openings a in the'door proper, and it is set inv the frame formed of the bars s t, and

IOO

held therein by the overlapping plates w, so that it may be easily moved back and forth by its handles w to increase or decrease the size of the openings a. On the outer side of the door at the nppercnd aprojection, G,hav ing a rounded opening therein, is cast at each corner to f'orm bearings for the shaft H of the catches K. rlhe shaft H is held in place by the cap-pieces M,which fit over the same and are screwed or otherwise secured to the projections G.

N is the handle cast with the shaft H for moving the same.

To construct this door or fire-box, for it is both, the main frame is first built in with the wall of the kiln andthe door fitted between the side pieces, thc projections p embracing or fitting over the side pieces, and the journals or pintles r being fitted in the openings or slots h. The side pieces are then fitted to the frame by inserting the lugs g into the slotsf.

In operation the catches K are released from the notches and the door permitted to slide down between the side pieces until it rests on the project-ion l? on one of the side pieces. The slide is then moved, so as to uncover the openings u, and the rcbnilt on thc dooritself, the openings therein answering the purpose of a grate and kept burning for two or three days, and as thc kiln advances raise the door two or three notches,(as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1,) as high as judgment may suggest. Then the outsidcofthc kiln is burned the door is closed or raised completely up and the slide closed, thus forming an air-tight door, while the middle of the kiln is being burned, orit maybe opened to increase the draft, if desired. It will be noticed that the door is on a level with the upper surface of the grate-bars, thus giving a through draft for the kiln.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination, in a kiln-door,of the frame A, having slotsf, the side pieces, C, having the hook-shaped lugs g, the slots h, and projections p, thedoorD, having the elongated openings n, and the slide E, having corresponding elongated openings, u, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a kiln-door, of the main frame A, cast in one piece and having thc slots f, the side pieces, C, having their sloping edges provided with notches m and their rear edges with lugs f/ and slots 71, the door D, having elongated openings a, lugs p, projections G, shaft H, catches K, and `slide E, substantially as described.

3. A combined door and fire-box for kilns, consisting of the side pieces, C, having the sloping edges provided with notches m, the metallic plate having elongated openings 11., the slide E, having corresponding openings, u, and the shaft H, having the catches p,wl1ere by said plate may be secured at any desired height or inclination and the draft regulated, as set forth.

4. A frame for thc opening of a brick or other kiln, consisting of the plate (l, having the elongated slotsf and opening (1,' therein, the shelf or plate c, the base d, and the side fianges, Z), all east in one piece, substantially as described.

ln testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN \VlLlf[Al\[ READ.

XVitilesscs:

A. W. DELANE, A. C. YoUNDrN. 

